The best investment we ever made was a share in a little organic farm. The primary value is not in the land. The real treasure is the one-of-a-kind couple who own and run the farm.
30 years ago I sat in the living room of their farmhouse interviewing with them for a job as a summer farmhand. I had visited other farms. I had interviewed with other farm couples. But this was the one. Somehow, I just knew it. What I learned during my summer on their farm would shape me for a lifetime.
The first lesson was one of overwhelming commitment. This couple pours all of themselves into this piece of land. And they do so without a safety net. There is no romance in trying to live off the land. Often the farm does not reciprocate their love – drought, weeds, pests, prices can all beat them down. But they always rally, and forge on to somehow move forward.
Ingenuity was another big lesson. How do you make the margins on a hard piece of land? By building a wind turbine out of the rear brake drum of a car. By designing and welding your own custom farm implements. By building everything out of recycled freezer lids. This couple are masters at walking gently on the land, finding a thousand ways to use less while giving more. I expect they could teach more about “sustainability” than any college professor. For me, living with them was no end of a lesson.
Perhaps the most enduring lesson is simply how they face reality. As they forge a path back to the land, the rest of the industry goes for factory scale farms with huge petrochemical inputs. Where they plant trees, others farm within an inch of the waterways, washing topsoil away. The hard choices they have made are not recognized or rewarded by the market. Money is tight. The future is always unknown. Yet they are willing to live with constant uncertainty because of their commitment to making a different reality possible.
They have little in the way of family, but their land has been a haven for hundreds and hundreds of people over the years. They have no children, but their farm has been home to dozens, including my own two. As I write this, my son is driving the tractor in the field while my daughter finishes mucking out horse stalls.
This farm, and its impact on my family, is a lifetime dream come true. We are blessed to be a small part of it and to learn from two such unique souls. 30 years ago I sensed something special sitting in their living room. But who could have known then how this would all turn out.
This story is dedicated to the B’s. Thank you for everything.
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